The present invention relates to a card reader which conducts reading and writing on card data stored on a card. In particular, the present invention relates to a card reader on a non-contact IC card having a radio communication function.
Conventionally, card readers which conduct reading and writing on card data stored on cards are used in various apparatuses such as ATMs and CDs. As for the cards, there are magnetic cards which store card data as magnetic data and IC cards which store card data in an IC memory. As for the IC cards, there are contact IC cards having contact terminals formed on the surface of the card to make electrical contact with a card reader and non-contact IC cards having a radio communication function. In the case of magnetic cards, a magnetic head is brought into contact with a magnetic stripe formed on the surface of the magnetic card to conduct reading and writing on the card data, as known. In the case of contact IC cards, IC contacts are brought into contact with contact terminals of the contact IC card to read and write card data. In the case of non-contact IC cards, reading and writing are conducted on the card reader by radio communication with the non-conduct IC card.
A composite card obtained by compounding at least two from among the magnetic card, the contact IC card, and the non-contact IC card is already put to practical use.
If a foreign substance such as a coin is inserted from an insertion slit to insert a card and the foreign substance stays in an insertion path for a card, then a card inserted by the next user might be broken or a failure might be caused in the card reader main body. In conventional card readers, therefore, a configuration which prevents a foreign substance such as a coin inserted from the insertion slit from staying in the transportation path for card is adopted (see, for example, JP3027954 Z and JP3644834 B). Specifically, an opening or aperture is formed on the bottom side of the card insertion path. If a foreign substance is inserted from the insertion slit, therefore, the foreign substance falls from the opening and discharged from the card insertion path.